Freely engageable support member

ABSTRACT

A freely engageable support member which can be inserted and retained in a hole by means of an engaging end with a lip insertable in the hole and contacting the inner adjacent wall surface of the hole while a center section of the engaging end rests by weight of gravity in the hole and on a portion of the wall forming the lower part of the hole. An outer flange extends downwardly from the center section and contacts the outer surface of the wall adjacent the hole, the lip and the flange preventing the support from falling outwardly when placed in the hole with the support having an object attached to its end opposite the engaging end, the weight of which causes the lip and flange to contact the inner and outer sides of the wall surrounding the hole.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Walter Koziol Russell, Ill. [21]Appl. No. 794,500 [22] Filed Jan. 28, 1969 [45] Patented Mar. 2, 1971[73] Assignee Charmglow Manufacturing Company Antioch, Ill.

[54] FREELY ENGAGEABLE SUPPORT MEMBER 3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 248/223 [51] Int. Cl A47g 29/00, A47f 5/00 [50] Field ofSearch 248/73, 125, 216, 217, 223, 224, 243; 285/208 [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 967,383 8/1910 Hunter 248/243UX 2,447,1288/1948 Logan 248/224 2,587,912 3/1952 Simpson 3,104,013 9/1963 FiskABSTRACT: A freely engageable support member which can be inserted andretained in a hole by means of an engaging end with a lip insertable inthe hole and contacting the inner adjacent wall surface of the holewhile a center section of the engaging end rests by weight of gravity inthe hole and on a portion of the wall forming the lower part of thehole. An outer flange extends downwardly from the center section andcontacts the outer surface of the wall adjacent the hole, the lip andthe flange preventing the support from falling outwardly when placed inthe hole with the support having an object attached to its end oppositethe engaging end, the weight of which causes the lip and flange tocontact the inner and outer sides of the wall surrounding the hole.

FREELY ENGAGEABLE SUPPORT MEMBER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to a support member for insertion in an opening andmore particularly, to a support member adapted to be quickly insertedinto and cantilevering from an opening and freely carried therein bymeans of lips and flanges carried by an engaging end of the supportmember.

Support member of the cantilevered type such as for electric lights, gaslamps or when employed to support a shelf are permanently secured to abracket which in turn is affixed to a wall or the like. There areavailable the hooked type supports which fit into slots of a bracket.However, these require either a large degree of manipulation or they aredesigned with no means of preventing lateral shifting. The prior artnowhere teaches a support member which is simple in design andconstruction and is securely retained by the wall surfaces surroundingan opening while obviating lateral shifting and a large degree ofmanipulation. Neither is there available a support member which can befreely yet safely carried by an upstanding wall member and substantiallyfill the opening into which an engaging end is inserted.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel supportmember which has a minimum number of parts yet is effectively held in apassageway. It is another object of this invention to provide asupportmember which can be quickly inserted into and removed from an opening.It is still another object of the present invention to provide a supportmember which can be manufactured without maintaining close tolerances.It is yet another object of this invention to provide a support memberwhich requires minimum manipulation yet for esthetic purposes willsubstantially fill an opening into which it is inserted.

SUMMARY or THE INVENTION The foregoing objects are accomplished and theshortcomings of the prior art are overcome by the present support memberwhich is comprised of an engaging end and an arm member. The engagingmember has a center section substantially filling a hole in a panel intowhich it is inserted. A lip extion 14 forms part of engaging end 11 fromwhich extends outwardly in one direction a lip member 15 and a flangemember 16 in the opposite direction and spaced therefrom. A bell 20 issecured to arm 12 at the end opposite to engaging end 11 by nut 21 andbolt 22 passing through annular portion 23 on arm 12 by an accommodatinghole with the end opposite to nut 21 interengaging ringer 25. Lip 15 andflange 16 are spaced apart so that a panel portion 26 of a support suchas a bracket 27 is accommodated between the inner adjacent surfaces 29and 30 of lip 15 and flange 16, respectively. Center section 14 isrounded in an elliptical manner to fit in round hole 32 with the bottomportion 33 of center section 14 seated on a section 34 of wall 26forming hole 32. It will be noted that lip 15 forms an end wall 35 oncenter section 14. End wall 35, as is center section 14, is constructedwith a width slightly less than the width of opening 32 so that centersection ,14 can be seated in hole 32 with portion 33 resting therein andyet substantially fill the hole.

Referring specifically to FIG. 6, it will be seen that engaging end 11of support member 10 is constructed and arranged with lip 15 extending asufficient distance so that the inner face portion 29 contacts anadjacent portion of a raised inner surface 38 of wall 26 when bottomportion 33 of center section 14 rests on bottom section 34 of hole 32.Contact between face portion 29 and surface 38 is maintained by thecombined weight of arm 12 and bell 20 tending to pivot engaging end 11in hole 32 and move downwardly. This also causes the inner surface 30 offlange 16, which extends outwardly a greater distance than lip 15, totend to, come into contact with the outer surface 41 of wall 26. To aidin restricting lateral movement of engaging end 11 when placed in hole32, two

spaced-apart flanges 43 and 44 are disposed adjacent the upper regionsof hole 32 for contact with side surfaces 45 and -46 of lip 15. Barlikeflanges 43 and 44 are formed in an upwardly converging manner and oneach side of surface 38 for better contact with tapering sides 45 and 46of lip 15.

I member 10 will be had by a description of its operation. Arm

tends outwardly from the center section in one direction and a flange isspaced from the lip and extends outwardly from the center section and ina direction opposite'to the direction of the lip. The lip is constructedand arranged to engage an inner portion of the wall when the centersection seats in the hole and the flange is disposed outwardly of thehole and adapted to engage an outer portion of the wall. The, desiredobject is supported by the arm opposite the engaging end and extendingtransversely from the flange and lip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS A better understanding of the presentsupport member will be accomplished by reference to the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the support member.

FIG. 2 is a back view in elevation of the support member taken alongline 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the support member shownin FIG. 1 with asectional view taken through a panelsection.

FIG. 4 is a back view in elevation of a bracket member representing apanel section with two flanges.

FIG. 5 is a partial view in cross section of the bracket shown in FIG. 4with the engaging end of the support member being inserted into a holein the bracket.

FIG. 6 is a view like FIG. 5 with the engaging end of the support memberresting in a hole in the bracket and the support member in a normalengaging position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Proceeding to a detaileddescription of the present invention, the support member generally 10 iscomprised of an engaging end 11 and an arm member 12. Rounded centersec- '12 is grasped between the thumb and forefinger and engaging end 11is inserted into hole 32 so that end wall 35 is at a slight angle from avertical position to allow lip 15 to clear adjacent surfaces of wall 26.This is the position of plug member 10 as shown in FIG. 5. The sidesurfaces 45 and 46 of lip 15 will clear through hole -32 because, aspreviously stated, they are dimensioned slightly less than the width ordiameter of hole 32 and center. section 14 is dimensioned in height lessthan hole 32 to permit the insertion of lip 15. Once lip 15 is to theinside of wall 26, arm 12 is moved'downwardly and flange 16 is pivotedtoward wall 26 to permit flange 16 to rest against the outer surface ofwall 26. In this position, the support member 10 is permitted to dropdownwardly by its own weight whereupon it will assume the position shownin FIG. 6 with bottom 33 of center section 14 resting on bottom 34 ofhole 32, lip 15 contacting surface 38 and surface30 of flange l6contacting outer surface 41 of wall 26. This provides a stable supportfor bell 20 and also an effective means to substantially close hole 22.To remove support arm 12 from hole 32, the previously described stepsare merely reversed.

'Support member 10 with engaging end 11 is illustrated for use in around hole. However, it can be constructed in practically any geometricconfiguration whether rectangular,oval, triangular or other polygonalshapes to fit within the desired hole configurations. It will also berecognized that any type of fixture can be suspended from a wall panelother than a bell 20. For example, an illuminating fixture such aselectric lamp or a lantern could be supported as well as such devices asa bird feeder or ornamental wind chimes. The preferred material forsupport member 10 and bell 20 is aluminum. However, any rigid orsemirigid materials such as other metals and resinous plastics can beused with consideration given to the type of device to be suspended andwhether the wall 26 is heated such as if it is a barbecue basestructure, If the latter situation prevails, arm 12 should be made froma nonflammable material.

It will thus be seen that through the present invention there is nowprovided a support member which can be inserted and freely carried in ahole without permanently attached moving parts, such as hinges orflexing portions, yet has a minimum number of parts. The support can bequickly inserted in and removed from a hole without requiring closetolerances of the parts comprising the engaging end yet it effectivelycloses a hole for good appearances. No special molds need be designed tomanufacture the support nor any special tooling. The support isinexpensive to manufacture yet highly functional as it can be adapted tosupport a variety of devices.

The foregoing invention can now be practiced by those skilled in theart. Such skilled persons will know that the invention is notnecessarily restricted to the particular embodiments presented herein.The scope of the invention is to be defined by the terms of thefollowing claims as given meaning by the preceding description.

lclaim:

l. A freely engageable support member insertable and freely carried in ahole in a panel section comprising an engaging end and an arm member, acenter section carried by said engaging end for seating in said hole, alip extending outwardly from said center section and in one direction, aflange spaced from and extending outwardly from said center section andin a direction opposite to said one direction, said lip constructed andarranged to engage an inner, upward portion of said panel when saidcenter section seats in said hole and said flange is disposed outwardlyof said hole and adapted to engage an outer portion of said panel, andspaced-apart flanges carried internally by said panel section andarranged to engage said lip and restrict lateral movement of saidengaging end.

2. The support member as defined in claim 1 wherein said engaging end isconstructed and arranged to engage a round hole and is substantiallyelliptical in cross section, said flanges comprising two spaced-apartflanges carried by said panel section and adjacent said hole, saidflanges being disposed in an upwardly converging manner and constructedand arranged to restrict lateral movement of said lip.

3. The support member as defined in claim 2 further including a stopsurface disposed between said flanges and constructed and arranged toengage said lip.

1. A freely engageable support member insertable and freely carried in ahole in a panel section comprising an engaging end and an arm member, acenter section carried by said engaging end for seating in said hole, alip extending outwardly from said center section and in one direction, aflange spaced from and extending outwardly from said center section andin a direction opposite to said one direction, said lip constructed andarranged to engage an inner, upward portion of said panel when saidcenter section seats in said hole and said flange is disposed outwardlyof said hole and adapted to engage an outer portion of said panel, andspaced-apart flanges carried internally by said panel section andarranged to engage said lip and restrict lateral movement of saidengaging end.
 2. The support member as defined in claim 1 wherein saidengaging end is constructed and arranged to engage a round hole and issubstantially elliptical in cross section, said flanges comprising twospaced-apart flanges carried by said panel section and adjacent saidhole, said flanges being disposed in an upwardly converging manner andconstructed and arranged to restrict lateral movement of said lip. 3.The support member as defined in claim 2 further including a stopsurface disposed between said flanges and constructed and arranged toengage said lip.